Little Girl
by Small Princess
Summary: When Minna loses her job again she finds a job at seventh heaven. Takes place seven years after DOC. VincentxOC.
1. Little Girl

_**Little Girl**_

_Minna sighed as she walked down the street. She had just spent another day looking for a job, and when she had gotten home to her apartment, she had found a box of her things on her doorstep-Minna had never had many possessions- accompanied by an eviction notice._

_She had carried the box across town, looking for a place to sleep- a doorway, under an awning, somewhere. Minna looked down, blinded by tears, and spotted a 50-gil coin on the ground. She dropped the box and picked up the small copper coin. It was just enough money for a dinner and a drink. She looked around and spotted a nice-looking building with a lit sign above it, proclaiming it __Seventh Heaven, Restaurant/Bar. _

"Perfect!" Minna said to herself, picked up her box, and went inside. The bartender looked up. She was a very pretty woman with long black hair and a friendly face.

"Hi! I'm Tifa. What can I get for you?" she said, smiling.

"What do you have in the way of dinner?" Minna glanced around for a menu, but saw none.

"You look cold. How about some hot soup and a drink?"

"That sounds great, thanks. How about some milk?" Minna hadn't had milk in a long time; she couldn't seem to find any cheap enough. But the 50 Gil would be enough to cover that.

Tifa bustled around, dishing up the soup, getting a glass of chocobo milk. "You look down. What's with the box?"

"I… got evicted this evening. It's all the possessions I have. I can't seem to find a job." Minna looked down and examined her fingernails. "I work hard, but no-one seems to want to hire me."

"You work hard? Can you cook?" Tifa plopped the bowl of soup down in front of Minna. "Seventh Heaven could always use more help."

Minna almost choked on her soup. "Are you serious?" She managed to swallow without killing herself.

Tifa nodded. "The boys won't cook, so on busy days I'm overwhelmed, having to do it all by myself. I was just writing an ad for a job, when you came in." She held up a piece of paper "I think it was meant to be. I'll pay you well!"

Minna laughed. "YOU'RE begging ME to accept this job! Like I could turn down any job at this point! Yes, I will work here."

"Yay! You mentioned something about being evicted, maybe you could stay here for a while, we have an extra room…" Tifa said.

"No, I couldn't possibly accept that…" Minna shook her head. "I don't want to cause any trouble…"

"Just until you get another place to stay… and your food's free." Tifa said.

"But-"

"No buts. Finish your food, and I'll show you where you're sleeping." Tifa picked up Minna's box and walked off.

When Minna finished her food, she washed the dishes and put them away. She walked upstairs and looked into each open door. The first two rooms each had two teenagers , sleeping. The next she looked into was a bathroom. After that was a room with a spiky-haired boy sleeping in it-sprawled all over the bed- and then a neat room with Tifa and her stuff waiting.

"In here?" Minna asked.

Tifa nodded and handed her an alarm clock. "I set this for 7:45. I want you downstairs by eight, and we open at nine."

"Thank you so much for giving me this job and letting me stay here for now."

"Good night-- I never asked your name…"

"Minna"

"Good night, Minna."

Minna was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

* * *

A/N the first chappy! yay! i hope you liked it so far. I'm quite enjoying myself. NEXT CHAPTER: Minna meets the group.

* * *


	2. AVALANCHE

**Chapter 2**

When the alarm clock went off at 7:45 the next day, Minna was woken instantly. She had never before had a loud beeping noise in her ear-- she didn't own an alarm clock. When she finally figured out what was beeping, and how to turn it off, she was fully awake. Minna pulled some clothes on, and went downstairs.

"Good morning, Minna" Tifa had a big stack of silverware in her hands. "You're up faster than I expected. Here- help me set the tables" Minna took half the silverware from Tifa and, together, they set up all the tables in the restaurant.

Minna was so absorbed in her work- she had never worked in a restaurant, and this was her first time setting tables since her childhood, and she never heard footsteps walking downstairs.

"Who's this, Tifa?" a voice said. Minna turned around and saw that the speaker was the spiky-haired man she had saw sleeping last night.

"This is Minna. I needed more help around the restaurant, and seeing as to how you never help, I hired her." Tifa pointed to spike-head. "Minna, this is Cloud. You might know him as a member of AVALANCHE."

"I thought I recognized you somewhere…" Minna held out her hand to Cloud "Hi, Cloud. Nice to meet you."

Cloud shook her hand "Nice to meet you too."

The phone rang. "I'll get it," Tifa said, and did so. "Strife delivery service, you name it, we deliver it. How can I help you?" Tifa continued to talk on the phone, writing something down, and when she was done, she turned to Cloud. "They want you to pick up a parcel at this address, and deliver it at this one." she said, holding out the piece of paper. Cloud took it and left.

After the sound of Cloud's motorbike faded away, Minna turned to Tifa. "Do you two have kids?" she asked. "Because I saw two teenagers last night."

Tifa laughed. It was a pleasant sound, high and lilting. "Goodness, no. The girl is our friend Barrett's daughter, but he's often out, so he can't really take care of her. Her name is Marlene. The boy, Denzel, is an orphan we adopted."

Tifa glanced at the clock "Yuffie's late. _Again_."

"Yuffie?" Minna asked.

"Right here!" When Minna turned around, she saw a short girl in her early thirties. "The white rose of Wutai is here!" the girl looked up. "who're you?"

"Yuffie, this is Minna. She's going to help out here." Tifa turned to Minna. "this is Yuffie. She waits tables here at Seventh Heaven."

"Nice to meet you, Yuffie."

"Right back atch'ya!" Yuffie grinned. "Can I call you Min-Min?

Minna shuddered. "…sure." Yuffie's nicknames had that effect on everybody.

"Minna, It's eight now. We should start the day's bread." Tifa pulled her into the kitchen, and they began baking. Again, Minna really enjoyed this simple work. They made bread, banana bread, croissants, and chocolate chip cookies-with Yuffie attempting to steal all the chocolate chips.

When all the baking was done, both the teenagers had come downstairs. Tifa made breakfast for everybody, setting aside some pancakes for Cloud, who wasn't back yet.

"It was delicious," Minna said, after she had finished eating. Yuffie who had finished long ago, nodded furiously.

"You're going to learn how to make that when we open." Tifa said.

"Which is right now." Yuffie interjected. "It's nine."

"Just one thing, Minna," Tifa said. "tonight we are having a party, and all of AVALANCHE is coming. Some of us are kind of… crazy"

"Like Vin-Vin!" Yuffie shouted.

"Okay…" Minna said.

* * *

When they opened the restaurant, it very quickly became crowded. They had to recruit Denzel and Marlene to help wait tables. The chaos was very unusual for Minna, and she enjoyed it, like everything else at seventh heaven. However, she was exhausted by the time they closed shop.

"Blah…" Yuffie said, collapsing into a chair after they were done cleaning. "That was the hardest day we've ever had!"

"Everyone will be here in…" Tifa checked her watch. "Oh! Any moment now."

The front door's bell rang- but the chain was closed. "Damn! Someone open the door!" a gruff voice said.

"Oh! Sorry, Ciddie!" Yuffie went over and unlocked the door for a gruff man with a cigarette in his mouth.

"Barry's here, too!" Yuffie yelled.

"That's Barrett!" the tall black man walking in the door said.

"Dad!" Marlene shrieked and ran to give him a hug.

"Hi, Marlene!" Barrett hugged his daughter back. "Yo, Spikey!"

Cloud grunted.

"Minna," Tifa said. "Meet the rest of AVALANCHE. This is Cid Highwind-"

"Yo."

"Nice to meet you, Cid." Minna shook his outstretched hand.

"And this is Barrett." Tifa nodded to Barrett.

"Nice to meet you, too." Minna said. "Want me to get the biscuits out of the oven, Tifa?" Minna turned toward the kitchen. "AAAGH!"

"I'm Vincent." The man in black and red, who had been standing right behind her, said.

"Vinnie doesn't make any noise when he moves," Yuffie said. "It's scary."

"Ah…" Minna said, and backed into the kitchen.

"I'll help with the biscuits!" Yuffie said and dashed in after her.

After getting the biscuits out and onto the cooling racks, Minna asked "Is he a vampire?"

"Nope. He looks like one though, doesn't he? Ow, HOT!" Yuffie had bitten into one of the biscuits, and found them still hot.

"You shouldn't eat them 'til they're cool." Minna said. "The red eyes don't help. And the tattered cloak."

"Are you talking about me?"

"Blah! He did it again!" Minna had jumped across the room.

"Vinnie, for your birthday, I'm getting you tap shoes. And you have to wear them…ALL the time." Yuffie said, blowing on her biscuit and biting in again. "Much better. These are really good!" The rest of the biscuit disappeared and Yuffie's cheeks puffed out.

"It'll last much longer if you eat it slower, Yuffie." Minna said.

"But where's the fun in that?" Yuffie asked, on her third biscuit.

"Maybe it'll take more time to get full?" Minna frowned. "Save some for everyone else, okay?" Minna put all the biscuits on a plate and left the kitchen. "Anyone want a biscuit before Yuffie eats them all?" Everyone took a biscuit and blew on it, to make it cooler.

"Now can I eat more?" Yuffie reached towards the plate without waiting for an answer.

Denzel, Cloud, Cid, and Barrett were playing a game of cards. "Bullshit!" Cid shouted, pointing at Cloud.

Cloud shook his head, his mouth full of biscuit. He flipped over the cards on top. "Read it and weep. Four sixes." Cid took the entire stack of cards, adding them to his already large hand.

Yuffie looked over Denzel's shoulder, and then Barrett's. "Nice hand, Barrette."

"I've told you once, I'll tell you again. Don't call me Barrette!" Barrett continued to grumble under his breath about Yuffie and her nicknames.

"Yuffie, why don't we play Clue?" Tifa said, trying to distract Yuffie from annoying the boys.

"Sure!" Yuffie said "Everyone should play!" she recruited Marlene, Minna, and Vincent into playing, while Tifa set up the board.

"How do you play Clue?" Minna asked.

"Easy! I'll teach you." Marlene said, and did so. "…and you're trying to figure out who killed Mr. Boddy-"

"I know! It was Sephiroth!" Yuffie shouted.

"He's not one of the suspects…" Tifa said.

"Then it was…" Yuffie said dramatically. Marlene provided a drum roll. "Vin-Vin!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"No, Yuffie," Vincent said.

"But you would deny it!" Yuffie pointed to him. "You're GUILTY!"

"Yuffie, it has to be one of the people on the box." Tifa said, holding up said box.

"Then it's that lady! She looks like Scarlett!" Yuffie said, pointing to one of the characters.

"Well, her name is Miss Scarlet…" Tifa said.

"See! I told you so!"

* * *

A/N Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading my first and second chapters. PLEASE review, and (to those who either reviewed or favorited,) THANK YOU again.

I WILL try to update weekly, but i have no inspiration after chapter seven, so there may be a long pause there while i try to figure out what should happen next. but the end of chappy seven is not a cliff, so don't worry.

Just because i wuvs you, i'll publish two today!

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	3. Claw Marks

**Chapter 3**

While Minna worked in the restaurant the next day, she thought about the party AVALANCHE apparently had every month. Playing Clue had been lots of fun, with Yuffie trying to blame Miss Scarlet, even though Minna had Miss Scarlet in her hand. In the end, Vincent had blamed Miss White, in the Kitchen, with the Rope, and he had won.

"_No Fair!" Yuffie said, frustrated. "It WAS Miss Scarlet!"_

_Vincent showed her the cards in the 'Top Secret File' "This is what it says."_

_And Yuffie threw her hands up in the air and left the room._

The restaurant was less busy and when Tifa approached Minna with a bucket and mop, Minna took them and left to clean the bathroom.

When she started to clean the floor, she very quickly spotted claw marks on the floor, and an identical set on the wall. Minna left the bathroom to ask Tifa what those were, and if they were new. On her way to the kitchen, she heard a low conversation, and recognizing Vincent's voice (he was the only one with claws), stopped to listen.

"..Yes, Vin-Vin?" Yuffie's voice.

"Can materia wear out?" Vincent's voice was low and nervous.

"Yes, after nine or ten years. I generally replace my materia after eight years, so's I never have to put up with the lesser power of a materia that's wearing out."

"Is there any way to replenish it?"

"No, not as far as I know… I just throw it back into the lifestream and go buy more."

"oh…"

Minna wrote it off as unimportant, and went on to the kitchen to ask Tifa about the claw marks she had found in the bathroom. Tifa had never seen them before, and she cleaned the bathroom once a week, so they were new. But when they asked Vincent about it, he said he didn't know anything.

After the restaurant was closed for the day, Marlene came downstairs with a pile of cloth in her arms. She pulled out a sewing machine and proceeded to sew.

"What's that for, Marlene?" Yuffie asked, bounding over to examine a piece of cloth.

"It's almost Halloween, and I'm going to a costume party." Marlene replied, and put a pin in her mouth.

"Halloween, huh. I almost forgot about it." Tifa said.

"Why don't we decorate Seventh Heaven for the trick-or-treaters? We could do the inside like a haunted house, lead them through, and give them candy." Minna said.

"Yeah! And we could dress up, too!" Yuffie added.

"We already have a vampire," Minna added, pointing at Vincent. "And Tifa, you could be a witch."

Tifa nodded. "And Cloud could be a Frankenstein."

"I'm going to be gone…" Marlene said.

"That's okay. We don't need too many people." Yuffie said. "Let's go buy decorations!"

* * *

A/N Hey! three chapters out now! and this one has a little air of mystery to it! ooh la la!

the next chapter is Halloween, so i'm not going to add that 'till Halloween. it gets very exciting starting there! (oooh, action, finally!)

yup... exciting-ness.

i want cheese.

see you on halloween!

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	4. Halloween

**Chapter 4**

The doorbell rang. Minna pulled a little string that pulled the door open, and then pulled another that made a creepy hand beckon the trick-or-treaters in, then pulled it aside. A little sign dropped down.

_Come in- if you dare!_

Minna pulled the sign up and the already frightened trick-or-treaters walked into the darkened restaurant slowly. Minna pulled aside a curtain that revealed the restaurant, which had a bloodied Denzel serving tomato juice "blood" to Vincent, who was dressed as a vampire. Also sitting in the restaurant, at a table, eating jelly eyeballs, was a Shinigami-fied Cid, and a Frankenstein Cloud.

Denzel looked up at the trick-or-treaters and said, in a spooky voice, "What can I get for you?"

Vincent looked up, grinned past his fake fangs, and pushed them into the kitchen. In the kitchen, Tifa, as a witch stirring a bubbly green brew, looked up and cackled.

"What have we here?" she said and grabbed a hand-made broom, sweeping them out into the alley.

"Boo!" Yuffie, as a ghost, jumped out at the terrified trick-or-treaters. They ran away from her, heading straight into Barrett, who comforted them, gave them their candy, and led them back to their parents.

They returned to their positions, and re-started the whole thing for the next group of trick-or-treaters.

Three groups of children later, Vincent was just shoving one of them into the kitchen when he lit up with a strange glow, slowly transforming into a monster. Denzel took a step back as Chaos roared and clawed the child's face. Cid dove under the table.

The child ran out the front door, and Chaos went after it. But at the last minute Minna threw herself out in front of the door.

"Vincent!" she screamed. "Get a hold of yourself!" Vincent didn't seem to hear and slashed her body, throwing her backwards. Before she had a chance to complete her fall, Chaos dashed forwards and batted her body again and again, an evil grin on his face at the sound of breaking bones. He didn't expect Cloud to come forward and tackle him from behind.

Tifa ran outside and yelled "Chaos! Enough!" before punching his hideous face.

_Stop_

Vincent, inside of Chaos, heard that gentle voice and fought to regain control.

* * *

A/N Woot! I finallys updated! Lotsa chappies for you all… I meant to publish these on Halloween, but my social life got in the way…

IF YOU DO FANART, you should totally do the char's in their costumes. Heh, heh, Frankenstein Cloud!


	5. Flowers

**Chapter 5**

"That's enough flowers. She'll pass out again when she wakes up."

"The smell isn't that strong."

"Yes, it is. No more flowers, Vincent."

"But Chaos attacked her. I feel really bad."

Minna opened her eyes to see Vincent, his arms full of pink petunias, talking to Tifa.

"Wha?" Minna tried to move more than her jaw; her entire body, excluding her fingers and toes, was encased in casts and bandages. Even her face was partially covered.

Tifa hurried over to her bedside. "You're awake! Good. You can take your hi-potions now." she held up several green bottles that were glowing unpleasantly.

Minna lifted a finger-all the movement she could make. "How am I supposed to drink that? I'm immobilized."

"With a spoon." Tifa picked one up from the bedside table. "I'll feed it to you."

"Let me do it." Vincent said.

"And lose control again and really kill her this time?" Tifa shook her head. "You will get out-and Vincent?" Tifa said to his retreating from. "Don't tell anyone that she has to be spoon fed. She's probably already embarrassed enough about it already." Minna nodded fiercely, wincing at the pain that followed her simple movement.

Vincent left the room without more than a "Hm."

Tifa turned to Minna. "That means yes, I think."

As she swallowed each mouthful of hi-potion -which, despite its nasty appearance, actually tasted quite good- Minna got a good look at the room she was in. It was her bedroom, but every flat surface was _covered_ in flowers. Petunias, orchids, roses, sunflowers, daises, and many more- every type of flower imaginable. There were rare flowers that Minna had had never seen before -and probably cost a lot- sitting right next to common, everyday flowers that could be found at every corner store.

After she was done with the potions, Tifa began to unwrap the numerous bandages that covered Minna's body. It was a very strange feeling, to feel her bones mending and see open wounds disappear.

"What's the deal with all the flowers?" Minna asked, wincing at a particularly painful mend.

"Vincent." Tifa responded. "It's his idea of how to apologize. You get kind of socially impaired when you stay in a coffin for thirty years. The only handy thing about that is the fact that his credit card is virtually inexhaustible"

"Wouldn't you die if you STAYED in a coffin for thirty years?" Minna asked.

"I have no idea how it works, but I…think he's immortal."

"So…why, exactly, did he stay in a coffin for thirty years?"

"Something about atoning for his sins. There was some chick named Lucrecia, and he was in love with her, but she's Sephiroth's mom, aaand… it's very confusing." Yuffie had bounded into the room and just now brought herself to their attention. "Oh, and he turns into a monster. And he's filthy rich."

"Yeah… about the monster part…?" Minna looked down at her fully healed body.

"It's some monster called Chaos. But I thought, with the Proto materia, he had control over Chaos…" Yuffie said.

"Enough, Yuffie." Tifa turned to Minna. "If you want to know, ask him. He should be the judge of how much to tell you."

Minna left the room to go find Vincent. She was bursting with questions, and she wanted the answers.

She found him sitting in the kitchen, staring out the window. "Hey, Vincent."

* * *

A/N…yeah. Lots of backstory in the next chappie. I wanted to write Minna's reaction to it all.


	6. Backstory

**Chapter 6**

Vincent turned to her, surprised out of his reverie. "You're all better." He said, always big on long sentences.

"Yup! And hi-potions don't taste as bad as they look." Minna grinned.

"You're not…mad?" Vincent looked at her.

"Not at you."

"I'm so sorry! I have no idea how to get you to forgive me…" Vincent looked down into his collar, hiding most of his face.

"How about you…tell me your story. The whole thing." Minna said.

"Well, when I was three I-" Vincent started.

"No no no no no." Minna said. "The confusing one. With Chaos and Lucrecia."

"Well…" Vincent sighed. "When I was twenty-seven -I was a member of the Turks at the time- I was sent to be a bodyguard to a scientist named Lucrecia.

"She was… Very beautiful, and energetic. I… fell in love with her. I have no idea how she felt about me, but she had worked with my father before. She refused to tell me what had happened to him.

"She married another scientist named Hojo, and became pregnant. She gave herself a shot of Jenova cells, to make the baby a very strong SOLDIER. That baby… was Sephiroth."

"Like the big bad evil guy?" Minna said.

Vincent didn't deign to answer that. "I was against the project from the start, and, to prevent me from interfering, Hojo shot me."

"Wait, so… you're, like, a zombie?" Minna interrupted again.

"No. Let me finish. Lucrecia attempted to heal my wounds, and put me in a tank full of mako.

"When all else failed, she put a monster-Chaos- inside of me. She also gave me a materia called the Proto materia. This, most of the time, kept me from losing control and killing everything around me. But…then she gave birth to Sephiroth.

"She was so overcome by what she had done to me, and by what she had done to her baby boy, that she enclosed herself in a crystal formation, in a cave near here.

"I… stayed in a coffin for the next thirty years, to make sure I didn't transform and kill innocent people. That's when Cloud found me. You know what happened after that."

"You guys killed Sephiroth?"

"Yes. And, you probably remember, two years after that, we had to fight him again." Vincent said. Minna nodded, remembering the time.

"A year after that, I was attacked by deep ground."

"Deep ground?"

"An underground side of Shin-Ra. Long story short, they took away my Proto materia, and I lost control. Hojo was back again, and he had created a monster called Omega. I had to become Chaos to fight it; and I lost control.

"A girl named Shelke, who had fully restored Lucrecia's memories inside herself, somehow became her and gave me a newer, better Proto materia. Not only could I choose when to become Chaos; I also had the ability to control myself when in the form of Chaos.

"I fought Omega, won, and haven't become Chaos since then. That was seven years ago." Vincent looked down.

"But… if you can control Chaos, why did you transform?" Minna asked. "I get the idea it wasn't by choice."

"I think my Proto materia is wearing out." Vincent said. "But I have no way of getting a new one. I asked Shelke, but she can no longer access Lucrecia's memories."

Minna left and sat on her bed, trying to digest all this. She fell asleep still thinking.

* * *

A/N I wrote all that backstory from memory. If I got something wrong, tell me.


	7. Naptime

**Chapter 7**

The next day, after the restaurant closed, a girl stuck her head in the door.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

"Shelke! So nice to see you again!" Tifa walked over and hugged the woman, a pretty girl in her late twenties.

"Tifa!" The girl pulled back after a hug. "Is Vincent here?"

Tifa shook her head. "He just left." Shelke and Tifa exchanged a pointed look that seemed to speak volumes. Tifa turned to Minna. "Minna, this is Shelke."

"Hey, Shelke." Minna shook the outstretched hand. "Vincent mentioned you."

"He did?" Shelke cocked her head.

***

"Where is Vincent?" Minna asked Shelke later, as she had agreed to accompany her to the store. They were walking back as she asked this. "He's been gone for hours now."

"If you really want to know, go down that street there and…" Shelke gave her directions that led out of Edge.

Minna followed her instructions to the letter. She found herself outside a cave. When she entered, she found a small pool with a woman encased in crystals at the center. Looking around, she saw that the cave had materia crystals scattered around it. So this was what a natural Mako spring looked like; Minna had never seen one before.

Lying on the ground near the pool was Vincent. At first, Minna was scared that he was dead or hurt; but closer examination showed that his breath was regular- he was only asleep.

"So he does sleep…" Minna murmured. She covered him with his cloak, and looked around the cave once more. This time, all the details fell into place. This was Lucrecia's cave. And the lady in the crystals- Lucrecia herself. Overcome with a sudden sense of intruding on something personal, Minna left the beautiful cave.

When she returned, everyone looked up at her expectantly. "He's sleeping." Minna said, taking her place at the dinner table.

"Vinnie sleeps?" Yuffie asked.

Tifa sighed and closed her eyes in frustration. "Yes, Yuffie. Everyone sleeps."

* * *

A/N AWWWW! Sleeping Vinnie! *Rapes Vin in his sleep*


	8. 1 Month Among Mad People

**Chapter 8**

The days passed, and soon Minna had spent a whole month at seventh heaven.

_Tifa embraced Shelke. "Come and visit again!"_

"_I will, when I get the time. I only get so much time off work, you know," Shelke grimaced. "And it's such a long journey from Costa Del Sol!" _

_Tifa nodded. "But maybe next time come when Vincent isn't hiding."_

"_Will do!" Shelke hopped up on her chocobo and waved to everyone. "Bye!" _

"_Bye!" They all chorused back. Shelke clucked to her chocobo and rode off. _

A couple days later, Vincent came back. He had come stumping in, soaking from the early November rain.

"Vincent!" Yuffie had said, grinning evilly. "You're making noise when you move!" she had decided that it was because he was wet, so for the next couple days, she had poured a bucket of water on him upon his entry to the restaurant. Sure enough, he squelched and stumped until Tifa provided him with a pile of towels.

After Yuffie had finally been persuaded to stop soaking Vincent, the days passed uneventfully, except for the sudden moments when Vincent got a funny look on his face and dashed to the bathroom-and not to relieve himself.

"Minna?" Tifa's voice brought Minna back to the present time. "Will you go to the store for me?" Minna agreed, and walked to the market, only a few blocks away. When she entered, she bought everything Tifa wanted, and, with her arms full of groceries, she headed back for the restaurant.

She cut through an alley, taking a shortcut home. It was dark out, and Minna wanted to get home as soon as possible. She heard the whisper of cloth- someone was behind her. She felt cold metal up against her neck. The blade rotated, putting the edge up against her throat.

"Drop what you're holding and put your hands up," a silky voice said, behind her.

* * *

A/N heh, soaking Vinnie. I DO enjoy torturing him, even though he's hawt… ANYWAYS, we got some action starting! *Points to 'next chappie' button, then gesticulates at the 'Review' button.


	9. Mugged

**Chapter 9**

Minna dropped the bag of groceries, and they spilled all over the ground. The thief riffled through the bag, ruining the vegetables, and, finding nothing, moved on to Minna. He checked her for jewelry, and only found a cheap plastic necklace with a yellow charm.

"Is this a materia? He asked, fingering the necklace with his dirty hands.

"No," Minna lied. "It's plastic. No monetary value whatsoever."

Mr. Thief let go of the necklace. "Well," he said. "You are completely valueless. I guess I'll have to…" he slid his knife up to her throat.

"I suggest you drop the knife," a familiar voice said. "Now." Mr. Thief turned around to find himself staring down the nose of a three-barreled gun. "Minna, are you alright?" Vincent asked.

"I'm fine, just scared shitless." Minna said. "Mr. Thief here was going to kill me." Vincent's gaze intensified, and then he began to glow red. "Oh, no, Vincent!" Minna pulled Mr. Thief away from Chaos' immediate reach. "Damn!" The poor man was absolutely terrified.

Chaos roared and crushed Mr. Thief's head, instantly killing him. Minna managed to hide herself behind a dumpster, but the small crowd that had gravitated toward the roar wasn't so lucky. Chaos struck out at a small child, killing it. The monster's next prey was a pregnant woman, who couldn't run. With two dead, the crowd made haste to get away, but Chaos thought different. He chased after them, rounding them up, killing innocent people.

Minna was scared she would be found. Chaos' attacks stopped for no one.

_Yuffie came in with a pile of yellow materia. "I have an idea," she said, and waited for the others to gather around her. _

"_I have here," she brandished the materia, "One lightning materia for each of you, excluding Vin-Vin."_

"…_?" Vincent's questioning look was enough to get her to continue._

"_My idea is this: if Vinnie loses control and becomes Chaos, then one of us, whoever's nearest, can cast 'lightning' on him. Maybe this will knock him out."_

"_An interesting idea," Tifa said, "But we ought to try it out." _

"_I don't have a good feeling about this," Vincent said as they led him outside. _

"_We'll just try it. You just turn in to Chaos, and we'll knock you riiight out." Yuffie said. Vincent transformed into Chaos, lighting up red and roaring. _

"_Lightning!" Yuffie yelled, and a bolt of lightning came from the orb in her hands. It struck Chaos, but it didn't knock him out. His eyes dulled, as Vincent returned to control for a second, then flared again and he flew away._

_When Vincent -not Chaos- came back, he said that the jolt of lightning simply returned his control for a couple seconds, enough to flee the city. _

Minna fumbled with the clasp on the necklace, struggling to open the little chamber that held a mastered lightning materia.

* * *

A/N w00t, Materia! …Shiny…. Reviews are pretty and nice and almost as good as materia!


	10. Buster Swords and Shurikens

**Chapter 10**

"Minna? What's wrong?" Minna had walked into the restaurant, shaking. Her face was pale, and she shivered, curled up in a chair. Tifa was very concerned. "Did something happen? Where are the groceries?"

"I… dropped them. I'm sorry, they were ruined." Minna looked down.

"You wouldn't get so frightened just dropping a bag of groceries. What happened?"

"Has anyone seen Vin-Vin? He said he had to go to the bathroom and left, and it's his turn-oh!" Yuffie rushed over to Minna's side. "Minna, are you okay? What happened?"

"I was…mugged. Mr. Thief almost killed me, but Vincent showed up, and…" Minna described the whole strange story. "But, Yuffie, your idea worked!"

"Yay! I'm a genius!" the 'genius' jumped up and danced around the room.

"Yuffie, sit down." Tifa's harsh tone put Yuffie immediately in the nearest chair. "Minna, we need to make sure Vincent is okay. You should stay--"

"No." Minna stood up. "I might be able to help. I know where he might…"

"Yes." Cloud said. "She should definitely come. She's the only one here who knows where _she_ is."

"But maybe we should arm her…?" Tifa added.

Cloud nodded. "Try this." He pulled one of the huge swords he had grabbed and put on his back at the first sign of danger, and put it in Minna's hands.

Minna fell over.

"Too…heavy…" she wheezed, trapped under the weight of the blade.

Yuffie handed her a shuriken. "Try this."

"Uh… Yuffie?" Tifa said, "Didn't you say that using one, if you didn't know how, would kill the user and everyone around her?"

Yuffie pulled the shuriken out of Minna's hands.

"What about Denzel's sword?" Tifa asked.

"Is it light?"

"Yes."

"Will it kill me if I try to use it?"

"Only if you point it at yourself."

"Sounds good." Minna struggled out from under Cloud's sword as Tifa ran upstairs to fetch Denzel's blade.

"So where is this place?" Cloud asked, effortlessly lifting the sword off and stowing it on his back.

"Outside of Edge. I'll show you."

Tifa came back, a lightweight sword in her hands. "Only use this if absolutely necessary."

Minna nodded and accepted the sword. "Onward!"

* * *

A/N …Yeah. Cloud's sword is HUUUGE! *HEADDESK* Not meant in a dirty way.

I have writer's block on the next chappie, so it could be awhile. Have a nice day!

*Glares* REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!


	11. The Music Of Magic

When the group reached the cave, the only occupant was Lucrecia. The group searched the cave, but it seemed Vincent hadn't been there for days.

"Damn," Cloud swore, "Where else could he be?"

"Any number of places," Tifa said, "Maybe we should split up and search different areas."

They all picked different places, and departed. Minna was to stay behind and see if Vincent came back.

* * *

When she was alone, the girl sat in front of the pool. She looked up into Lucrecia's face. "I wonder if you know that Vincent comes here to sleep. I wonder if you know anything that's happened. What about your son? Do you know he went crazy and thought Jenova was his mother? Do you know he's dead? That the man who loved you had to kill him?" She shook her head. "I'm kind of mad at you for doing this. You're supposed to try and fix your mistakes, not run away. Maybe none of this would have happened if you had just been with Vincent, or been a proper mother to Sephiroth. And here I am, talking to you. Just like him, who thinks it's his fault that all this happened. But at least he tried to stop you. He had the right idea."

Minna sat and glared at the beautiful lady, listening to the natural music of the mako spring. Slowly, the humming of the magical crystals lulled her to sleep.

* * *

A/N: omg, I updated.

I did.

Omg.

You can love and cherish me now by reviewing.

The reason: After all this time, I still have the end of this story still in my head. working my way towards it now *_*


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